


Drenched Once More to the Skin

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: They Who Sleep in Elysium [3]
Category: 15th Century CE RPF, Henry V - Shakespeare, Highlander
Genre: Alternate Universe, GFY, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-21
Updated: 2014-07-21
Packaged: 2018-02-09 18:22:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1993092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry comes back into Haerviu's life with an infant daughter in tow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drenched Once More to the Skin

"I cannot take care of her alone." Henry is drenched to the skin, as he is too often when Haerviu meets him after they've been walking separate roads, and he's holding a bundle that appears to be mostly a great coat.

"Get inside before you drown." Haerviu smiles softly, ushering Henry into his small home, glad that he's living a quiet and simple life this time. No kings or princes to make demands upon his time as when he'd met a young English king in a chill northern court, and more than once since. No wife, either, though he knows Henry has married more than once in their times apart.

Henry returns his smile only after he's peeled the coat away from a tiny face, making sure the tiny child is as close as he dares bring her to the low flames on the hearth. The infant can't be even a year of age yet, and Haerviu wonders how far Henry's traveled, and kept her alive.

"Her mother died five months ago. The wet nurse vanished in the night a week ago, and left her behind." Henry doesn't look up from the infant yet, his brow furrowing as he strokes the girl's cheek with a careful fingertip. "Mary, for my mother."

Haerviu hangs the great coat next to his own on the wall, the empty peg finally of some use, before coming over to look down at Henry's daughter. "There's a woman in town whose son is a similar age. I usually hire her to take care of the laundry."

Henry chuckles, shifting so Haerviu can see little Mary better. "If she cannot or will not, I've been feeding Mary gruel. She's not terribly impressed, but she has lived on it."

Shaking his head, Haerviu reaches out to rest a hand gently on Henry's back. "Neither, as I recall, is her father, when fever makes it impossible to feed you much of anything."

Under his hand, there's the vibration of suppressed laughter, and Henry looks up at him with mirth in his gaze. "It isn't the most inspiring of meals, even when ill. I wouldn't think bread soaked in beef broth is the best for an infant, either, though, no matter how much I find it better when I have need to recover my health."

"I suspect it is not what either the physician or the midwife would suggest to feed an infant for which you cannot find wet-nurse after the mother is dead." Haerviu gently traces a fingertip over Mary's forehead, before letting out a quiet sigh. "I haven't anything in the house suitable for an infant, much less a girl, you realize."

Henry shrugs, looking at him out of the corner of his eye. "I have money enough to purchase what needs be bought, and I'm not entirely helpless with the making of necessities." There's a smile that takes any sting out of the words, and Haerviu can feel Henry leaning into him a little more. "We'll manage, as we have before."

"So long as you do not manage to attract so much attention we need flee before the wrath of the mob." Haerviu leans into Henry a little himself, selfishly glad to have Henry with him once more, even if he must share his heart with tiny Mary.

He'd never minded sharing; after all, Henry has been his since a muddy field and an unlooked-for victory for a small English army.


End file.
